The government has agreed in principle for TOT Plc and CAT Telecom to take charge of an underground piping plan for telecommunications, broadcasting and power wires.

At least 10 billion baht will be needed to group all existing overhead power, telecoms and broadcast cables into a single platform below ground, said Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission.

The money will come from the digital economy fund. The fund was set up to develop the country's telecom infrastructure and provide financial support to public and private firms that invest in infrastructure development and create innovative services.

"Construction of underground piping facilities is needed soon to prevent a possible collapse of concrete power poles carrying an excessive weight of utility wires," said Mr Takorn. "The concrete poles can no longer support more cables."

Mr Takorn discussed the matter with Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, reaching an initial resolution last week. This issue will be raised at a meeting of the national broadband committee on Friday next week for consideration.

He said laying all lines underground would pave the way for the development of a digital economy, as more telecoms and broadcasting companies need to expand their network coverage. Furthermore, it will beautify the cities.

"If moving the wires underground is approved by the national broadband committee, we expect the plan to take only one year," Mr Takorn said.

He said telecoms and broadcasting companies as well as state electricity enterprises could rent the underground utility pipes directly from the government. Many of the companies pay rental fees to the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Provincial Electricity Authority to hang their cables along concrete power poles.

Under Section 39 of the Frequency Allocation Act, telecom licensees have the right to negotiate with any company to lay their network lines. But the state electricity enterprises have denied requests from telecoms wanting to rent their poles to lay lines, saying their poles can no longer support the weight of new lines.

Mr Takorn said MR Pridiyathorn will discuss the issue with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, asking it to oversee the matter.